Your guide to New Year's Eve 2012 parties in Madison

New Year's Eve is a great time for a fresh start, if you're willing to view bar-hopping as a means to self-improvement. Whether you're seeking a stiff drink, a love connection, a cathartic concert or a place to ponder heartfelt resolutions, local nightspots can help you start 2013 right. New events are still being announced; check The Guide for the latest details.

This band zeroes in on the kind of classic rock that powers county fairs and wedding receptions: Journey, Bon Jovi, REO Speedwagon and more Journey.

Inn on the Park NYE Party

Best Western Inn on the Park, 9 pm

The hotel's classy Signature Lounge will whoop it up with music by DJ Todd Olsen, party favors, free appetizers and a champagne toast. For a more boisterous scene, head across the street to popular nightspots such as Genna's and Paradise Lounge.

This affable local trio will be just about anything you want them to be on New Year's Eve, from the space rockers of their latest release, The Slingshot Effect, to the mystical misfits of their rock opera, Major Arcana.

This local band have been racking up awards left and right, including a Madison Area Music Award for their blues album Gimme the Jimmys and a Wisconsin Area Music Industry award for best swing or big band ensemble. See if their good fortune rubs off on you as you kick off 2013.

Nothing fights a case of year-end regrets like a passionate set of Chicago blues. Thanks to seasoned guitarists such as Joel Paterson and Billy Flynn, this band serves up some of the best medicine in town.

The local chain will celebrate the new year with music and party favors at multiple locations. Opt for the downtown Dane for a fun, casual vibe and close proximity to other Capitol-area events. DJ Vilas Park Sniper will provide the tunes while bartenders serve up locally produced suds and a free champagne toast.

Perhaps you don't care who you'll be locking lips with at midnight. Maybe you're just looking for a good time, with some old-fashioned music and an excuse to primp a bit. Look no further than the Majestic Theatre for that classic party vibe. DJs Nick Nice and Mike Carlson will ride their decks through the eras, starting with tunes from the Everly Brothers and Frank Sinatra. Then it's on to James Brown and, if all goes according to plan, some marvelous modern releases. Stick around to see which song gets the first spin of 2013.

At this secret-agent themed event, a cadre of DJs, including Psychotron, WhiteRabbit, Dyreckt and Jean LeDuke, will concoct a heady blend of industrial, electro and dubstep tunes as bartenders ready a champagne toast and a lineup of late-night snacks. Expect a dramatic countdown around midnight, even if there are no detonator clocks in sight.

Segredo's flashy all-night party should give the other downtown venues a run for their money. To start 2013 on a positive note, cheerful balloons and a cool $1,000 will rain from the heavens. A half-dozen DJs - Mr. Physix, Mrhorror, Ryet, Radish, Billy the Kid and Chicago electro phenom Dani Deahl - will keep the bass bumping hour after hour. At 4 a.m., a complimentary buffet will appear so guests can carbo-load for more dancing. Groups can reserve VIP tables with bottle service and other luxuries.

Celebrate new beginnings as the historic State Street theater reopens following legal battles and foreclosure. At the main stage, you'll find rock tunes from Hometown Sweethearts, whose repertoire includes covers of Kinks and Kings of Leon songs. DJ VON's latest dubstep tracks, Mad Major Melvin's hip-hop-influenced trap music and Wyatt Agard's electro-house creations will sate the dancers in the crowd. Hit the lobby stage for performances by Kevin Kingsbury and Bryan Bakke, plus a beat battle hosted by Madison Media Institute.

Dressing in drag is cause for celebration at this LGBT-oriented club known for its gender-bending performances. Blue-velvet frocks are ideal for this year's blue-themed New Year's Eve party, which will feature cerulean cocktails. Other highlights include dance-friendly music from DJ Tim Walters and a free buffet and champagne toast.

Party on as Bill and Ted would by time-traveling with tributes to five most excellent bands from the '80s and '90s: Van Halen, Dio, Sublime, the Black Crowes and R.E.M. Plus, DJs Lovecraft and Richard Lopez just might share some early-'90s trance tracks.

Let these hair-metal aficionados pour some sugar on you in the form of guilty pleasures by Poison, Warrant, Firehouse and, of course, Def Leppard.

First-date-friendly fetes

DLUX NYE Celebration

DLUX, 8 pm

Show your sweetie's palate a good time with gourmet hors d'oeuvres such as oysters Rockefeller and chocolate-covered strawberries and an open bar stocked with Milagro tequila, Hendrick's gin and several 12-year-old scotches. Other perks include a DJ and a champagne toast.

Masked Intruder are a local pop-punk band who hide their faces in color-coded ski masks. Celebrate their recent ascent to Fat Wreck Chords' roster - and your own achievements of 2012 - along with Whisky Pig, the American Dead, American Plains, Bereft and Iron Gate.

Craving a lazy, hazy evening that will open your mind? This Grateful Dead tribute is just the ticket. They'll snake through the Dead's unusual chord progressions with a focus on musicianship, self-expression and good vibes.

These Madison-based folk musicians earned a national reputation years ago thanks to their whimsical humor and friends like A Prairie Home Companion's Garrison Keillor. Half of the event's proceeds will benefit the Goodman Center.

Don we now our American Apparel? This might be the most hipster of all local New Year's Eve parties: a nonprofit radio station (WORT) hosting a funk band named after facial hair (the Mustache) at a restaurant loaded with vegan options (Alchemy) for an event dubbed "Nasty New Year's."

Wishing you were in sunny New Orleans for New Year's? Visit the French Quarter via crawfish and crab puffs at Louisianne's. If you know who you'll be kissing at midnight, tunes from jazz musicians Johnny Chimes (5 pm) and Lynnea Godfriaux (9 pm) should be a romantic prelude. If not, perhaps they'll serve as inspiration.

Bust out the lederhosen and kick it German-style at this bash featuring unlimited food and drinks, a champagne toast, and la crème de la crème of nightlife freebies: downtown parking. Live at Nine will fill Come Back In with rock and blues, while the David Austin Band will lead polkas and the Hokey Pokey at Essen Haus.

Whether you've been doused in glitter or smooched by a radioactive spider, you're eligible for drink specials at Woof's if you've made yourself glow. The bar will hand out bubbly at midnight, and DJ John Murges will deliver effervescent house music.

Win a trip to Sin City at the LGBT dance club, which will morph into a Vegas-style casino. Motivating tunes from DJs Lizzy T and Cover Gurrl will help partiers get lucky at roulette wheels, blackjack tables and beyond.

Josh Dupont and Chris Lange will face off at this all-night ivory-tickling extravaganza. Guests receive a champagne toast, party favors and hours of showstoppers from the worlds of Broadway, cabaret, jazz and rock.